GOING UP: Swindon Town 2011/12 Season Review

It`s Saturday 25th April 2012 5pm, The inevitable has just been confirmed, Swindon Town have been relegated to the bottom division of the English game just one season after making the League One playoff final at Wembley Stadium following a 3-1 loss at Hillsborough. Morale is at an all time low following such a poor showing all season, despite the season starting with so much promise despite the departure of key players Gordon Greer, Danny Ward and Billy Paynter.

It was clear following such a disastrous campaign, wholesale changes were needed and boy did we get them. The whole landscape of Swindon Town Football Club changed in the matter of days. First we had the departure of manager Paul Hart who was brought in to stem the bleeding following success elsewhere avoiding relegation, then came the news that Andrew Fitton would resign as club chairman after failing to reach his objective of Championship football within 5 years. Jeremy Wray would take over as chairman on an interim basis and his first mission was a difficult one, make the wrongs from last season right and get the club back to League One at the first time of asking. Wray quickly moved to say if any player didn`t want to play League Two they are free to go. Instead of staying with the club to try and make up for relegation virtually the whole first team squad left for pastures new. Mission number two for the interim chairman was to find a manager who would rally the troops and take the club back to League One at the first time of asking, many clubs get stuck in the doldrums of League Two and find it hard to get out. Town achieved the aim of first time promotion last time they were in League Two during the 2006/07 season under the watchful eyes of Dennis Wise and Paul Sturrock, the new gaffers aim was to equal or better that result.

Despite being relegated Town were a very good proposition for any manager, finances are secure, the team had a big stadium, and decent facilities to boot, and well over 4,000 season ticket holders, and in fairness Swindon Town would be the biggest club in the division. Expectation levels were high as always amongst a fan base who crave success year in and year out. Names such as Didi Hamman, George Burley and Ady Boothroyd were banded about as a possible successor to Hart before the name of former West Ham superstar Paolo Di Canio surfaced as a potential candidate.

Ultimately Di Canio would be named as the man to take Swindon Town back to League One and the flamboyant Italian immediately declared he would win the league with a regime of hard work and dedication, not only dedication and hard work to him, but to the club and the fans. Opinion of Di Canio`s appointment had divided the fan base given Di Canio's past an inexperience, however time would soon show they had nothing to worry about and Wray and the board of directors knew exactly what they were getting themselves into by appointing Di Canio as Hart`s Successor.

Di Canio`s first aim was to reach out to captain Jonathan Douglas who was a free agent and said would be a key player in Town`s push for promotion. Paolo had watched videos already of last season and knew what went wrong, Douglas was settled in the area and was set to commit his future to Town until Brentford came along and offered him League One football. Un-phased by the snub, Di Canio moved on and recruited players to fill out the squad heading into pre-season.

As pre-season commenced, Town had a very continental feel to them, many players whom Town had been linked too had been overlooked by Di Canio in favour for players from abroad including Ibrahim Attiku, Alberto Comazzi, Mattia Lanzano, Mehdi Kerrouche, Alessandro Cibocchi, and Oliver Risser as well as a couple of old Football League players Etienne Esajas and Leon Knight who was looking to rebuild his career as well as his reputation for being petulant.

Fans soon saw Di Canio ruled with an iron fist, if you weren`t up to scratch you were gone. After only 2 days of pre-season training Leon Knight was released for showing up to camp unfit. Town would go to Italy to resume pre-season and get some decent results against local Italian sides none of which were really of a decent standard. Many Fans were worried heading into the season at the lack of firepower up front but Di Canio and the board would work hard to resolve that issue as Town returned home for the new campaign.

Following a 2-1 friendly loss to eventual nPower Championship title winners Reading, Town got down to business as the 2011/12 League Two season kicked off. Town got off to a great start with an impressive 3-0 win at home to Crewe Alexandra in front of over 8,200 fans who made the pilgrimage to the County Ground. What was more impressive that was that Town were able to score 3 goals and none of them were from up front. Callum Kennedy would slot home a penalty whilst Aden Flint and Olive Risser would do their part to ensure Town took all 3 points. One game, one win! Only way was up and we are all happy.

The Di Canio era got off to the best possible start. Sadly that was not to last, Town hit the road and Town`s lack of goal scoring ability soon became evident following a 1-0 away loss to both Cheltenham Town and Dagenham & Redbridge in rapid succession. The good news following the Dagenham loss was that Town were about to secure the signature of long term strike target Leon Clarke who had left QPR following their promotion to the Barclays Premier League.

Next up was the big one as far as many are concerned. Town were about to renew their rivalry with Oxford United at the County Ground. When Town dropped into the bottom tier previously, Oxford had slipped into the Conference meaning that both teams missed playing each other. Prior to the match Town supremo Di Canio had highlighted the fact that Oxford United`s talisman goal scorer James Constable was a Swindon Town supporter and that he would love to play for the Town. A move that would later bite him in the backside when it was revealed that Constable was indeed a Spurs fan. Town headed into the match full of optimism and what better way to kick start a spluttering season than with a win against your fierce rivals. Town fans were desperate for a win to make amends for last time, lets not forget last time we played Oxford, we lost 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium in the FA Cup. Images of Jefferson Louis bouncing around naked in the Oxford dressing room as the U`s drew Arsenal in the next round of the FA Cup were still clear in Town fans minds. Sadly Oxford would get the last laugh. Despite impressive performances from Leon Clarke and new signing Lander Gabilondo, Town would lose 2-1 and bragging rights would remain at the wrong end of the A420. Following the match Di Canio claimed he had an ace up his sleeve and had secured the signature of Czech International Lukas Magera. Now fans had reason to believe and be even more optimistic.

The end of August saw Town head to Ashton Gate to renew acquaintances with local rivals Bristol City. Whilst Town had dropped into League Two, City had managed to secure Championship status and came very close to gaining promotion to the Premier League, despite that Town fans were full of optimism heading into the encounter, which was rightly founded as Town would win the game 1-0 following a cracking strike from ex-Livingston striker Rafaelle De Vita. Town fans finally had reason to celebrate. Magera made his Swindon Town debut at Ashton Gate and put on a performance which was way above League Two standard. The future looked bright.

Despite the new additions, Town were unable to push on from City and lost 2-1 to Shrewsbury Town, of course at the end of the season this result would not look too bad given the Shrews inability to lose at home. The following week Town were in Carling Cup action and the events that followed this match would arguably shape Town`s season and kick start the promotion challenge. Town would lose 3-1 to a classy Southampton side but it`s the events after the match that gathered national headlines.

New signing Leon Clarke had just put in a 90 minute shift in the losing effort, as he came off the pitch he had a very public falling out with Paolo Di Canio and his technical staff. A shoving match between Clarke and Di Canio would ensue as Clarke came off the pitch following the match. The fracas would continue down the tunnel. Media outlets were quick to blame Paolo, reminding us for the 1,000th time about his referee pushing incident as a player and how Di Canio was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Much to the disappointment of the national press however, the video footage would actually show Di Canio putting a comforting arm around the player to discuss any issues in the dressing room, Clarke violently took Paolo`s arm off his shoulder. Following the incident Di Canio stated, Clarke would never play for Town again. Clarke would eventually play for three other clubs this season following the incident.

Following the incident Town were at home to top of the league Rotherham United. The match was an early kick off as it was screened live on Sky Sports and with every sports camera around the nation thrust in Di Canio`s face awaiting for another incident the promotion run started. In what has become an inevitable event, Alex Revell, the former Swindon Town loanee put Andy Scott`s men up 1-0 on 21 minutes. The result would remain 1-0 until Tom Newey scored an own goal making it 1 all. In a show of unity following the Leon Clarke fiasco, Town`s players jumped into the arms of Paolo Di Canio following the equaliser. Revell would score again on 65 minutes for Rotherham making it 2-1 to the visitors. In a bid to shake things up, Di Canio took off Lukas Magera who was yet to achieve full match fitness and replaced him with the speedy Alan Connell who had arrived from Blue Square Premier side Grimsby Town in the Summer, It would become an inspired substitution as Connell would head home the equaliser within a minute of coming on sending the home fans into raptures. Town would finally secure their second league win of the campaign thanks to another Alan Connell goal. After an eventful day, the fans were finally chanting Paolo`s name showing there unity to the boss. The following week it got better, Medhi Kerrouche and Jonathan Smith would score their first goals for Town in a 2-0 win over Southend the following week. Leon Clarke who weeks earlier had fallen out with Di Canio was sent out on loan to League One strugglers Chesterfield, thus removing that distraction from the club.

The week after it was off to Crawley Town, who according to the bookies were favourites to win the league this season despite never playing in the Football League. Crawley Town had significant backing off the pitch which meant they were able to sign the best of the best and throw money around like it had gone out of style. With Swindon receiving much press attention thanks to Di Canio, Crawley boss Steve Evans initially stated that Swindon Town were more like a circus and sideshow act than a football team. When Di Canio was asked to give his thoughts on Evan`s assessment, Di Canio clearly just stated he didn`t know who Evans was and didn`t care for his opinion. With the circus comments ringing fresh in everyone`s ears, Town would win the game 3-0 thanks to goals from Medhi Kerrouche who was starting to find form as well as Alan Connell.

Following a couple of 2-0 losses either side of a 4-0 win over Barnet, Di Canio appeared to change his transfer policy. Instead of bringing in foreign players he would look to bring in players based in England due to the difficulties the foreign imports appeared to have adapting to the style of the English game as well as the English culture with a few of his foreign imports stating they were home sick. Alberto Comazzi and Mattia Lanzano who would make 5 appearances for Town struggled to adapt to League Two and would soon be told they had no future at the club along with Ibrahim Attiku who failed to make a first team appearance despite being on a two year contract. To bolster his striking options Di Canio would recruit Jake Jervis from Birmingham City and Liam Ridehalgh from Huddersfield Town at the end of September. Shortly thereafter Cristian Montano would arrive from Dicanio`s former club West Ham along with England Under 19 goalkeeper Wes Foderingham from Crystal Palace. No one knew how key Foderingham would be to Town`s campaign this season.

October would see Town go 3-2-0 with a winning record for the first time this season in any given month with wins over Accrington Stanley, Gillingham and Plymouth Argyle. Town would draw against a poor but spirited Hereford United side as well as Bradford City. The Argyle result would be overshadowed by the tragic news that Paolo Di Canio`s Dad had died prior to the fixture. In another show of unity, The players brought Di Canio to the travelling Town support as they passionately chanted the Italian`s name. At the beginning of the month new arrival Jake Jervis would score a brace against Exeter to see Swindon advance in the Johnstones Paint Trophy. Town were on a roll now.

November started with a tricky away trip to Port Vale. Town have had mixed results in their last few outings to Vale but managed to secure a 2-0 win thanks to a Medhi Kerrouche penalty and Lukas Magera`s first English goal. The following week, Town were home to AFC Wimbledon in the Johnstones Paint Trophy. Oliver Risser would score a thunderbolt for Town whilst Rashid Yussuff would erase the arrears 8 minutes from time resulting in a penalty shootout. Phil Smith was in goal for Town during the penalty shootout and his performance was reminiscent of that fateful night at Charlton where Town earned a place in the League One playoff final just a year previously. Town would head into the area semi finals after a 3-1 penalty shootout victory. Phil was the penalty hero once again. The following week more cup heroics were to come. Town had a tricky first round FA Cup tie against high flying League One side Huddersfield Town who were hot favourites for promotion. Around this time it was clear to see Di Canio`s influence on the team. Despite Swindon going down 1-0 on 22 minutes thanks to a Lee Novak strike, Town didn`t let their heads drop and slip out of the game like the previous season, in fact it was quite the opposite. The 1-0 arrears motivated Town. 9 minutes before time young defender Aden Flint who had captained Alfreton Town to Promotion in the Conference North last season snuck up with a goal to put Town on level terms heading into the break. The second half saw Swindon dominate with Rafa De Vita, Medhi Kerrouche and Simon Ferry scoring in the second half to give Swindon a hard earned and well deserved 4-1 victory over Huddersfield. Swindon returned to League action against AFC Wimbledon at the Cherry Records stadium, unfortunately if you were a Town fan you wouldn`t have seen much of the game. Despite being over 750 Town fans in attendance, the sightlines were terrible but Town did manage to sneak away with a point after their first visit to Kingsmeadow. The end of the month would see Di Canio sign highly rated teenager Ronan Murray on loan from Ipswich Town. Murray had been Ipswich Town`s reserves top goal scorer and was came highly recommended. November rounded out with the visit of Aldershot Town to the County Ground. It was the first time the phoenix club had visited Swindon since Aldershot FC were liquidated in 1992. Swindon would win the game 2-0 thanks to a goal from Jake Jervis whose parent club Birmingham City were closely monitoring his progress with a run in the Birmingham City first team seemingly in his future and an own goal from Darren Jones to leave all 3 points in Wiltshire.

December kicked off with a FA Cup second round visit to the Weston Homes Community Stadium. Town have had no luck at the new stadium and it seemed unlikely Town would manage another League One scalp but we were pleasantly surprised when a Matt Ritchie goal ensured that Town would be in the hat for the third round draw. Swindon fans, players and staff waited with a baited breath, would we get one of the 'Big 4' in the FA Cup? No we wouldn`t but we did get a home draw to Wigan Athletic which seemed to galvanise the fans with the draw being deemed 'winnable'. After the heroics of Colchester, Town travelled to the Memorial Stadium to play Bristol Rovers in a match that is always a heated affair. It would also be Medhi Kerrouche`s last appearance for Town despite being the clubs top goal scorer at the time. Despite Town taking the lead into the 88th minute thanks to captain Paul Caddis, the performance was poor and it always appeared if Town could scrape by to the end it would be a miracle if they didn`t concede. They didn`t. Danny Woodards the hero for The Gas scoring 2 minutes from time sending Rovers fans into a frenzy. Di Canio was seething. After the match a passionate Di Canio threatened to quit the club in the heat of the moment saying he needed at least 3 players and could not win the league with the current bunch. With Di Canio`s words ringing in peoples ears, Town welcomed Morecambe to the County Ground for their first ever league encounter. Morecambe had travelled down to Swindon a couple of seasons ago in the FA Cup but the teams had never played in a league match until now. Looking to make amends Town would secure a well deserved 3-0 win over Morecambe heading into the Christmas break. Heading into Christmas, Town were unbeaten in 9 games and were flying high. Town would quickly however come back to earth with a bump by losing 1-0 at Torquay United on Boxing Day. Over 1,000 Town fans made the trip to Plainmoor but Town just couldn`t get out of the starting blocks. The last game of December would become one of the big talking points of the season, Swindon were away at Sixfields to take on Northampton Town in a New Years eve clash and a result looked very possible due to Northampton`s poor league form. The home side would show they are no push overs though by drawing first blood with Michael Jacobs scoring a penalty to give The Cobblers a 1-0 advantage going into the break. Paul Caddis would equalise for Swindon in the second half however the fun begins after the 90th minute, Alan McCormack buries a winner just out of the reach of Shane Higgs on the 93rd minute. McCormack and the other Swindon players celebrate with the fans. On the touchline, Paolo Di Canio is then seen charging on the pitch much like Jose Mourinho during his time at Chelsea, to join his players celebrating the goal, The Italian would later say it was a spur of the moment thing and his passion for the game which caused the reaction. He later said he was too slow and wish he could have ran faster despite passing Rafa De Vita on the way to join the Celebrations.

It was a very happy New Year indeed for Paolo`s Red and White Army with better things to come.

As 2011 ends on a high, Paolo Di Canio manages to clear up some funds by selling Elliot Benyon to Southend along with midfielder Michael Timlin who fell down the pecking order at Swindon. In a move of genius Town secure the permanent signing of Paul Benson who had been on trial at Town earlier in the season in exchange for temperamental striker Leon Clarke thus finally having something to show for the clubs investment in a striker from earlier on in the season. Town would also sell Will Evans to Hereford United after enjoying a successful loan spell earlier on in the season. 2012 got off to a cracker as Town welcomed Premier League side Wigan Athletic to the County Ground for an FA Cup third round showdown. Town came out of the starting blocks firing on all cylinders. Town man for man matched Wigan despite being 3 divisions above Town. On 35 minutes Town's luck ran out as Aden Flint was adjust to have tripped Ben Watson in the area. Up stepped Callum McManaman to take the penalty however Wes Foderingham saved the initial shot but McManaman would slot home the rebound giving the Premier League side a 1-0 lead. Town's spirits were not crushed and only five minutes later a Swindon Town cross would meet Alan Connell's head which would soar out of the reach of Wigan's Ali Al-Habsi sending the Town fans into raptures. At half Time it was 1-1, Town had more than matched their opposition. In the second half Paul Benson scored his first goal for Town due to a lucky deflection to give Town a well earned 2-1 lead. Town's fitness levels would shine through and Town would hold on to win meaning they were looking forward to a plum fourth round tie. After the match Di Canio dedicated the win to his late father and said that it was the greatest moment of his career to date. Town's giant killing exploits would galvanise the Town as well as the team. The following week Town travelled to Barnet for the first leg of the JPT Southern Area final. Town would take a 1-0 lead thanks to Aden Flint but would concede on 72 minutes meaning it was all to play for at the County Ground. The JPT match was followed by Town's first and only visit to the Don Valley Stadium to play hosts Rotherham United and secured an unlikely 2-1 win thanks to a Matt Ritchie brace.The exploits of Town's cup heroes were not going unrecognised with Matt Ritchie drawing interest from AFC Bournemouth. Bournemouth's interest was backed up by several bids, all that were re-buffed by the Town board who once again reiterate their desire to secure League One football at the first chance of asking. A return home to play Macclesfield Town followed next week and Town were able to grind out a 1-0 win over the Silkmen who were battling for their Football League lives however next week, Town would secure themselves as promotion hopefuls. Late in January Town released Alberto Comazzi from his contract along with Samsung win a contract winner Jordan Pavett who failed to make a first team appearance. Although players were leaving, Town were finally able to secure the signing of long sought after winger Luke Rooney from Gillingham after The Gills turned down a couple of previous bids from Town. On the 28th of January, Town made the trip to the King Power Stadium with the aim of causing another FA Cup upset against high spending Championship side Leicester City. Over 4,000 Town fans made the trip and sang the whole match despite going down 2-0 and for the first time this season, Town fans chanted 'We are going up'. Swindon Town would become perennial promotion candidates after beating League Two high flyers Southend United 4-1 at Roots Hall in a match they dominated from start to finish to round off January.

February began with a potential trip to Wembley Stadium on the cards as Barnet visited to the County Ground for the JPT Area final second leg. With the score 1-1 from the first leg, nerves were fraying during the match but Town would end up beating a resilient Barnet side 1-0 thanks to an Alan Connell strike and for the second time in two seasons, Swindon Town were going to Wembley. Town's trip to Wembley would also be the first time Paolo Di Canio would go to Wembley after failing to achieve the feat as a player. 7 days after a wild pitch invasion following the Barnet match, Swindon Town would welcome fellow promotion chasers Crawley Town to the County Ground. This time instead of insulting Swindon Town and making outlandish comments about the club and manager being a circus, Crawley boss Steve Evans stated that Di Canio was a breath of fresh air and good for the Football League. Di Canio questioned Evans sincerity asking why he insulted him and that Evans was now just trying to kiss his backside prior to their encounter. Over 8.300 flocked to the County Ground to witness what would be a highly charged encounter. Town would go on to win the match 3-0 once more much to the embarrassment of Evans who was on the receiving end of some strong abuse from the Town support. Evans would cause controversy by allegedly telling one of his players to break Luke Rooney's legs resulting in Town celebrating directly in front of the portly Crawley boss. Any hopes that Medhi Kerrouche would return to Swindon any day soon were dashed as Town shipped him to Oxford United on a months loan. On the 18th of February, Town travelled to Edgar Street and secured a massive 3 points against Hereford United thanks to goals from Paul Caddis and Paul Benson who was becoming somewhat of a cult hero following his goal scoring exploits since his arrival from Charlton a month earlier. The following Tuesday, Town hosted Shrewsbury under the floodlights in the best match we saw all season at the County Ground. Shrewsbury were perhaps one of the only teams who actually came to Swindon with the intention of playing attacking football. Shrewbsury were making all the right moves and would be rewarded on 40 minutes as the visitors opened the scoring with Matt Richards getting past recent loanee Daniel Boateng to give the Shrews a 1-0 lead heading into the break. Town seemed to be reinvigorated after the break with the introduction of Alan Connell into the game who would score a brace to give Town a massive 3 points ensuring they reached the summit of League Two. Town's impressive home form would continue with a pair of 2-0 wins over Dagenham and Redbridge and Burton Albion.

March promised to be a pivotal month for Town, with matches against Oxford United to whet the appetite of fans as well as the visit of fellow promotion chasers Cheltenham Town and Torquay United. To top if off Town would be playing in the Johnstones Paint Trophy final at Wembley Stadium against League One basement dwellers Chesterfield. Town's first game in March would be down the A420 at the Kassam Stadium. Despite Swindon giving Oxford over 3,000 tickets, Oxford gave town a Paltry 1,400 to fight over. Fans camped out over night to ensure they got tickets to the match, Town had no chance of securing extra tickets due to Oxford selling out their entire allocation in December and deciding against a temporary stand due to the costs involved in such a scheme. Di Canio was keen to make up for the loss at the County Ground admitting it still hurt, All 1,400 Town fans joined in a chorus of 'We are Swindon we're top of the League' to rile their opponents. Heading into the match all eyes were on James Constable. Earlier in the season Di Canio had claimed Constable was a Swindon fan and later had a bid accepted by Oxford to discuss terms with the player. Constable would refuse talks with Town following the bid being accepted and was the key threat to score against Town. Luck as it was went Town's way and Constable would be red carded shortly into the match. With a fierce atmosphere where Town fans were ducking debris from their neighbouring Oxford fans, it made for an uncomfortable afternoon at the Kassam Stadium. Nevertheless, shortly after Constable's dismissal it seems to rally Oxford's players with Asa Hall scoring past Wes Foderingham who had bobbled the ball to give the U's the advantage. Sadly it went from bad to worse for Town fans, as Lee Holmes who was on loan from Southampton, set up Oli Johnson who scored a second, it was a sucker punch Town never recovered from and Oxford had done the double over Swindon Town. Following the match however, despite fans being glum, Di Canio marched over to apologise to the fans and held his red and white scarf in the air in an act of defiance saying we were going up, Oxford were staying down. The fans responded with cheers and chants of being top of the league, we may have lost but our spirits weren't broke following Di Canio's actions. Relegation threatened Dagenham and Redbridge visited the County Ground the following week and were quickly dispatched 4-0. 4 days later Cheltenham Town who were nipping at Town's heals, visited the County Ground where over 10,000 fans saw Swindon nip a 1-0 win. The loss for Cheltenham would start a torrid run of results which would see them vanish from the promotion picture.

The following Saturday, Town hit the road for a clash at Gresty Road, a place Town had a rubbish record at as of late. Despite this, Town were favourites to add to their lead but would lose 2-0 before heading back home to play fellow promotion rivals Torquay United who were hoping to pull off an upset. Town would make up for the dismal performance at Crewe by beating Torquay 2-0 thanks to goals from Alan Connell and Oliver Risser who was starting to really make an impression in the side. Town would once again have a home game which would be a 0-0 stalemate against local rivals Bristol Rovers before heading on the road and recording successive victories over Barnet who were fighting for their Football League lives and Morecambe who had started the season brightly but slipped down the table as the season progressed. Next was the big one, Town's second trip to Wembley in two seasons. Town despite being in League Two, were heavy favourites against League One's Chesterfield who were fighting relegation most of the season. Over 30,000 fans from Wiltshire went to Wembley and hoped. The atmosphere was brilliant as Town fans congregated at the Green Man pub singing and drinking prior to kick off. That was as far as the fun went though, Town would lose the final 2-0, once again Swindon had failed to perform in a big match. Whilst disappointing, Swindon Town were on course for promotion back to League One which was the objective all season.

As April kicked off, Town were nearing promotion and at one stage were 9 points clear of second place Shrewsbury Town whose home record was raising eyebrows. Town returned home to play Northampton Town who put forward a spirited performance. It became clear, Teams were coming to Swindon to draw not win. Most teams would park the bus in front of goal and Northampton were no different. Town would go on to win the game following a Lee Holmes goal to give Town a vital 1-0 meaning they were only a win off promotion if other teams around them lost. With promotion now a real possibility, Town hosted Plymouth Argyle in front of over 10,000 fans at the County Ground. A lot was riding on the match, A win for Plymouth would ensure League football for the club next season whilst a win coupled with a Shrewsbury or Crawley loss or draw would see Town back in League One. The teams went into half time scoreless and the score remained the same until around 80 minutes, News had fed through that Crawley were losing meaning if Town could get a goal, they would be up. Alan Connell duly delivered sending the County Ground faithful into a frenzy. Sadly the joy was not to last, Crawley would equalise meaning the champagne was left on ice mathematically and that promotion could be won away on Tuesday at Aldershot Town. In fairness Town were un-officially promoted, Only a miracle would see them playing League Two football due to their superior goal difference. With over 1,400 Swindon Town fans travelling to Aldershot, Excitement levels were at an all time high, would promotion finally be secured just two days later?

Town travelled to Aldershot on the brink of securing promotion back to League One. Tickets quickly sold out and with over 1,400 Town fans in attendance, many in the home ends. The match started with several players being left out of the team following a drinking session in Swindon to celebrate the birth of Alan McCormack's daughter. Under the threat of rain, Town started off brightly but would find themselves behind on 12 minutes thanks to a Guy Madjo goal gave the home team the lead due to some dodgy defending by Town. The goal would turn the tables with Aldershot more than bettering Town. The Shots would maintain their 1-0 advantage until Town got lucky and Paul Caddis slotted home a penalty meaning Town, should they keep the score 1-1 would be promoted. The jubilation would not last, only 5 minutes later the Shots restored their advantage after Danny Hylton slammed the ball past Wes Foderingham. Promotion would have to wait for another day.

Town headed to Gillingham for what was bound to be a difficult encounter. The match almost went on behind closed doors following a fall out between Gillingham FC and the local police. The dispute was resolved and Town now had the chance to secure promotion at Gillingham a place that has always hated Swindon Town since a altercation during the play-offs in the early 1980's. The players dropped due to the earlier mentioned drinking session were put back in the team, however several more including influential goalkeeper Wes Foderingham would be dropped after not admitting they were also part of the drinking session. Phil Smith would play his final game for Swindon Town in goal and fluffed his lines twice as Town would lose 3-1. It didn't matter though in terms of promotion, results elsewhere meant Swindon Town were promoted anyway. Once again Swindon Town were promoted back to League One at the first time of asking. It was a strange atmosphere with the players trudging off the pitch after a poor performance only to come back shortly after and celebrate with the fans who were already partying. The journey back from Gillingham on the train was full of singing and celebration also through London back to Swindon.

With promotion secured, the pressure was off and the League Two title was secured the next week at home against Port Vale after Town secured an amazing 5-0 win against the financially stricken side. Goals from Alan Connell, Aden Flint, Matt Ritchie and a brace from Paul Benson ensured that the League Two championship would be presented at the County Ground. The obligatory pitch invasion followed the amazing win, and Town were awarded with their winners medals as well as League Two trophy.

The following weekend Town travelled to Bradford City and were given a guard of honour. Nathan Thompson would get a rare start with nothing to play for as well as Samsung Be A Pro winner Chris Smith who didn't look out of place in the team during a 0-0 draw. Following the match, The players celebrated with the fans including Di Canio getting all his players to sit on the pitch and sing 'stand up for the champions' to acknowledge Town's amazing support over the season.

That was the season finished. Many dreams, were realised but more work would need to be done to ensure the return to League One was not just a season of consolidation. After the season finished, Town had a party on the pitch with several bands playing including Toploader and The Lightning Seeds to a satisfied crowed. Paolo Di Canio would go on to sing 'dancing in the moonlight' to much fan fare as well as be named League Two manager of the season. Now the fun begins as Town aim for back to back promotions.